Olivia Randolph, Young Feminists Club

To those taking my place in Young Feminists Club next year, please remember these few things:

Not everyone will get it. Some people can be made to see inequality and some come from a place of privilege where they cannot consider the possibility of continuing gender discrimination, so learn who’s who and don’t waste your time.

Acknowledge the privilege you hold in regard to your race, socioeconomic status, religion or gender identity, and be aware of how that influences your experience with feminism and in life in general. Do your best not to silence the voices of those with less privilege because everyone holds a unique and important perspective.

Stand up for yourself and others in situations outside of our meetings and don’t compromise your beliefs for others. Most importantly, remember to take a break every once in a while.

There are times when you can let the other activists express outrage at the latest instance of victim-blaming or gender-based bias. You don’t have to be serious all of the time and it is OK to laugh instead of scream. I think it’s the only way I’ve made it through without going insane.

Sadie Keller, Habitat for Humanity

I really didn’t do anything spectacular. All I’ve done was harness pre-existing energy in the student body. LHS kids care and want to be a part of a larger, outreaching community. Habitat is a good way to capture those virtues and make a positive impact in Lawrence.

Houses are a basic human need, nothing elaborate or unnecessary. Building a house alongside the homeowner is a mutually beneficial experience. My favorite thing about Habitat is it isn’t charity. No one is being handed anything without hours of sweat and work into it.

I hope future leaders remember to be involved in Habitat for reasons better and bigger than it being volunteer hours. I’ve gained more from working with Habitat than I have given. I know the future is in good hands — hopefully the club continues to grow and evolve into a larger part of students’ daily lives.

Just remember, every small thing you can do for someone else changes both of your lives for the better.
Best of luck, Lions! Lions are an incredible group of compassionate, intelligent and progressive humans.

Shawn Han, My Little Pony Club

My name is Shawn Han, and my legacy is the My Little Pony club. I started it back in 2012, the first semester of my sophomore year. At first people thought it was a joke club. Many people signed up because they thought it was funny. Our first ever club meeting we had about 25 actual members, although over 60 people signed up.

My original intention for starting the club was I knew people who enjoyed watching “My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic,” but most of them thought they were alone in the school. Regardless of if the club stops or continues after I leave doesn’t matter to me, because I’m glad about the friendships that I made and the ones that I started. I really hope the club continues because it was so important to me, and I’m certain it was important to many others, too.

Isaiah Young, Gay-Straight Alliance

This year I became President—though I prefer the term captain—of the GSA. I walked the group through a complete makeover that I hope will last for many years to come. I declared our space a brave space, a safe space that acknowledges and requires a need for open discussion and learning surrounding not only issues of gender identity and sexual orientation, but issues of race, class, ability, gender and the intersections of these identities that make us people. I helped reorient the GSA back into being an advocacy and support group with a zero-tolerance policy for harm and willful ignorance. I got us online and connected with nearby GSAs and the Kansas Queer Youth Network (KQYN). I had outside speakers come in and educate on consent and gender identity and provided resources for our growing actively queer LHS community. My greatest hope is that the LHS GSA becomes a larger scale organization with the ability to pay for members to attend queer youth summits and hire folks to teach comprehensive queer safe sex ed.